Disney Love!

I really love Disney! There's something about the magic of Disney, the fun yet poignant story lines and characters are just lovely! My favourite of all time Disney films is the Lion King. We have visited the Disney parks a few times now (Florida, L.A. and Paris) and every time I look out for the Partner's statue which is normally at the entrance to the park (I say normally as on our last visit to Paris in Sept. 2009 it had been moved to just inside the studio park) For me it's so iconic of Walt Disney's magic, it expresses the unique bond between himself and his most famous character Mickey Mouse. I had seen on Ebay a bronze reproduction of the statue and promised myself that when one came up at the right price I would buy it! In fairness I didn't have a problem with the price of the statue but they were all in America and it was the shipping and import taxes that worked out too expensive! Imagine my joy when last week I spotted one in England, not the 8 1/2" one that you commonly see but the 15" rarer version!! It just had to be mine! Like it was fate almost! I was away with the Chorley girls for the weekend when it ended so I rang Mark and he bid on my behalf right at the end of the auction. I was delighted that, in the end, mine was the only bid and my beautiful Disney piece arrived today. I am so pleased with it and will treasure it. Now all I've got to do is find it a prominent home, LOL!

So proud!

Charlie came out of nursery wearing this 'hat' as he puts it! He was very good at helping tidying today, particularly after lunchtime. Well done Charlie!♥

Courtney's first day at Nursery.

Every time we take Charlie to nursery Courtney has been desperate to join in! She tugs at her coat to try and take it off and follows Charlie in! On Monday she had her first 'proper' session! She's actually started a bit younger than Charlie did but Courtney has different needs to what Charlie had and I actually think she'll really benefit from going. She's only going for one session a week (2 1/2 hours) to begin with and we'll steadily step her sessions up as she gets older. She walked in so confidently, she headed straight to the large lego bricks! I stayed with her for a little while but I had no worries about leaving her, she fitted right in, LOL! As I left she was heading over to the painting table, bless her!♥

A Weekend in London!

We took the train down to London on Friday and stayed at the 5 star Marriot hotel in Westminster! (mostly paid for using our Tesco clubcard vouchers!)
We had a terrific view from our room overlooking the River Thames and London Eye.
I had a list of all the things I wanted Charlie and Courtney to experience in London and we did them all. They saw the Queen’s soldiers’ at Buckingham Palace, visited Hamleys and had a lovely play with the toys there (and, of course, came away with a little treat each!) We saw the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and drove over Tower Bridge on an open top bus! We had a ride on the London Eye and met the giant Jelly Babies that are currently on display at Marble Arch! We did so much more too, it was a fun packed weekend!
Digi kit by Dawn Inskip, LHS was a template bought seperate from the kit that i've scraplifted just like Dawn's.

Who's that Charlie?

Charlie loves to play with his train track! We've got it out for him today and he merrily set about getting the trains ready for when Mummy and Daddy had built the track. He was then looking for the Fat Controller (from Thomas and the Tank engine) When he found him he exclaimed, I've found the 'Remote Controller' Gotta love this age he says all sorts of cute things! Oh and by the way, those things that follow the train are, apparently, garages!! (carriages) LOL

Girly Girl?

I just fancied having an evening in my craft room last night, that doesn't happen normally in the week, I'm usually too tired, LOL! Anyway, I'd done a few little bits for this layout whilst Jen was here for the weekend but had to wait for some papers to arrive to finish it off. I had great fun with my misters (I seem to be using them quite a bit in my scrapping at the moment) and got very inky hands! The main of the layout is using my favourite brand at the moment, Echo Park. I saw the layout in the Scrapbook magazine and instantly knew which photos I was going to use with it!
Courtney has a love of hats, in fact anything that goes on her head really! This one day Charlie and her had raided the hat basket and she took to this hat of Charlie's, she just wouldn't take it off again, LOL! So do you think my girl is going to be a girly girl?
Just to note, we had a visit from Courtney's social worker yesterday and we have a visit from our social worker tomorrow. After tomorrow's meeting the permanent adoption papers are being submitted to court and they estimate it'll be about 6 weeks to go to court, then Courtney will be legally ours♥

Happy Birthday Courtney!

Our precious little girl is 2 today! ♥Happy Birthday Courtney♥

Yesterday we had a little tea party for her. It was lovely to have our families around to celebrate her birthday with her.



Thank you so much to Jen for making the beautiful cupcakes

Liverpool Discovers

Yesterday Charlie, Courtney and myself met up with Cara, Sian, Sue and Allie to hunt out the 'Liverpool Discovers' Sculptures/Monuments/Interesting things! In previous years Liverpool has hosted the Superlambananas and Go Penguins (both of which we did!) but this year was a little different. Liverpool Discovers followed the same format where we trailed around Liverpool looking for the items but there weren't any brightly coloured animals to discover so it actually made them a bit more of a challenge to find but it was fun! A few of the exhibits were interactive so all the children had great fun playing with them. It was a long day and quite cold but both Charlie and Courtney were very good and seemed to get a lot out of the day :D
(After the Superlambanana event a few local companies bought the sculptures in the auction that followed the exhibition end and there are still a few dotted around Liverpool which was fab to see! I've dug out a couple of original photos from August 2008 and attached one from yesteday on the end! Look how much my gorgeous boy has grown!)

These make me happy!

I just had to photograph the children's door plaques, I can't tell you how much I love these, not only because they are sooooo cute but that they symbolise my 2 beautiful children sleep in that room. As our bungalow has 2 bedrooms downstairs and 2 upstairs the children are too young to sleep upstairs alone so at the moment they share. It's so lovely to hear them in a morning 'chatting' to one another, of course Courtney is saying very little at the moment but she make herself understood! Charlie really enjoys making Courtney giggle, you can hear the peepo's and larky noises that she just loves! The bedroom that they sleep in has such a lovely atmosphere, before we had the children I used to sit in there and imagine how it would be with a baby in it and now it has 2! I am very blessed♥